by Debra Webb
“Who else?”
~*~
Kennedy stood in the middle of the gymnasium and turned all the way around to admire the decorating job they had done. The place looked fantastic. The historical and contemporary themes somehow meshed to present the perfect eclectic atmosphere. The gym was much larger than the country club’s ballroom. With five generations of graduates attending tomorrow night’s ball, it had to be here. It had taken a lot of hard work and camouflaging, but they had managed. The place looked every bit as glamorous as it had the night of her senior prom, maybe more so. But this time, things would be different, wouldn’t they?
“Ready?”
Startled back to reality, Kennedy looked up into the mesmerizing gray eyes of Douglas Drake. He had driven Celia home. Kennedy blinked. She hadn’t expected him back so quickly. Maybe she had lost track of time. Just another fall out of character for Kennedy Malone. She never allowed time to slip away from her.
“Sure, I’ll just need to turn out the lights.”
Drake caught her by the elbow when she would have turned away. She looked up at him, a question in her eyes. That same heat that always shimmered between them kindled to life. How could he make her feel this way with just a look? What was it about him that drew her so? Made her yearn for things she’d never before missed?
“You did a hell of a job, Kennedy.” He surveyed the room, then settled that disturbing gaze back on hers. “I hope you realize that.”
She attempted a nonchalant shrug. “Cassandra was unavailable. I just pitched in where I was needed. So did you.”
Drake grinned in that way that sent butterflies to flight in Kennedy’s stomach. “So how are our ballroom dancers coming along?”
“I checked in with Trisha this morning. She said Larry has almost gotten it. By tomorrow night she expects him to be gliding across the floor.” Kennedy tucked a handful of hair behind her ear. “Let’s just hope Cassandra falls for it.” Back in D.C. she would never have second-guessed herself like this. What was it about returning to her hometown that sucked away all her hard-earned self-confidence?
“I have no doubt,” Drake assured her. His tone turned serious then. “Why so glum if all’s well?”
Kennedy closed her eyes and sighed wearily. She shook her head as if she wasn’t sure how to answer his question, but she was. The problem was admitting it. When she opened her eyes once more, he waited patiently. Something about the way he looked at her made her want to reach out to him. Made her long for him to reach out to her. She had learned more about Drake in the past four days than in the entire three years they had lived next door to each other. She would never be able to look at him the same way again. This…closeness would forever change things.
Was this reunion spin worth the casual friendship they had maintained until now? Maybe this would only be the beginning of something new.
Kennedy told herself not to think anything of the kind. She looked around again. He’d asked her why she was so glum. “I don’t know, Drake. To tell you the truth, it feels like ten years ago all over again.” She hugged her middle. “All my classmates are here and I’m alone at the prom with no dance partner.” She laughed humorlessly. “Even if I’d known how to dance at the time.”
“You went to the prom alone?”
God, was that sympathy she heard in his voice? Kennedy almost cringed. “Well, I was pretty much a nerd, you know. Not many boys that age want to ask a skinny girl with braces to the most important social event of their short lives. Especially one who hadn’t even been—”
Kennedy clamped her mouth shut. She was saying too much.
“Who hadn’t even been kissed?” Drake supplied.
She blew out a breath of long pent-up frustration. “Let’s just let it go, okay? I wasn’t the kind of girl guys were rushing to ask out.”
“I’ve seem your portrait at eighteen. You were beautiful,” he countered.
Beautiful? He thought she was beautiful? He’d said that before, hadn’t he? Kennedy forced her gaze back to his. She wondered if he could have forgotten that much about high school days. Teenagers don’t see past the flaws. “Maybe so,” she said with a noncommittal shrug, opting not to argue, “but I was a certified nerd. No longer a child, but not quite a woman.”
“What about Larry?” Drake suggested. “He didn’t ask you to dance?”
Kennedy blinked away the hurtful memories. Did she really want to go into this? “Oh, by that time he was going with Cassandra.”
“So, no one asked you to dance that night?”
Kennedy glared at him crossly. “Do you need me to write it down? No, Drake, no one asked me to dance. I was a geek. I held up the wall all night.”
“Is that when you decided you didn’t need a man in your life?”
One eyebrow shot up in irritation. “Is this Psych 101 or are you simply curious about the worst time in my life?” Why did he even care about her senior prom? And what was he looking at her that way? A flood of images and sensations suddenly washed over her. Every moment of last night’s fiasco came tumbling back. He was most likely feeling sorry for her about now. The emotions she thought she saw in his eyes were only pity. He hadn’t even wanted to make love to her when she’d practically begged him.
“Look, Drake,” Kennedy offered, overwhelmed by too many emotions of her own to deal with anyone else’s, “I appreciate everything you’ve done. You’ve lived up to everything you promised in every way. I’ll never be able to repay you for the way you’ve helped me out here, but…”
“But?” he pressed.
“Don’t take all this too seriously. I’m not expecting anything from you once this is over.” She searched his eyes for any kind of reaction, but he kept his feelings to himself this time. “Things will be just like they used to be.”
“Is that what you want, Kennedy?”
His question gave her pause. She looked away. Of course that’s what she wanted. What else would she want? Her gaze collided with his once more. Was that uncertainty she saw in his eyes, or was her own sense of inferiority simply mirrored there?
“Of course it’s what I want,” she said with no conviction at all. Kennedy squared her shoulders and summoned her waning resolve. “What else would I want?”
That irresistibly sexy smile of his appeared. “I thought maybe you’d like that dance you missed ten years ago.”
Kennedy’s heart beat much too fast. Had Drake just asked her to dance? Her breath stalled somewhere shy of her lungs. “W-what?”
Drake bowed and offered his hand. “May I have this dance?”
She glanced quickly from side to side. “But there’s no music.” Anticipation raged through her veins, making her heart pound that much harder.
He took her right hand in his left. “Who needs music?” His right arm went around her waist and pulled her close. She stiffened. “Just relax, Kennedy,” he whispered against her temple. His breath was warm and made her skin tingle. “This won’t hurt a bit.”
Kennedy closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. Drake’s warm, hard body drew hers like a living, breathing magnet. Her arms tightened around his neck as he began the slow, rhythmic movements of slow dancing to nothing but the sound of their beating hearts. For the first time in her life Kennedy felt completely right in the arms of a man. She wouldn’t allow herself to wonder or analyze. Right now she only wanted to feel.
Drake’s hand pressed against her lower back urging her hips closer to his. She could feel the depth of his desire for her, but couldn’t understand it. Drake could have any woman he wanted…What did he want with her? Her fingers instinctively entangled in his long, dark hair. And suddenly she didn’t care why.
Kennedy just wanted Drake to keep holding her.
Chapter Eight
Kennedy took a deep breath and then walked slowly to the full-length mirror across the room. She closed her eyes and paused before opening them. She had donned the costume Drake selected for her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look.
She probably looked like a total idiot. Why on earth had she let him pick it out? Because she had been too busy with last-minute reunion activities, including a dress rehearsal for the repentant Larry, to go with Drake all the way to Prattville to pick up the costumes. It felt tight. Too tight. She squirmed inside the clinched bodice.
“Okay,” Kennedy muttered. Time to face the music. She opened her eyes. She blinked, twice.
She had cleavage.
Boy, did she have cleavage. Kennedy turned to view her profile. The tight bodice, she decided, pushed everything up and out. The black lace-up front contrasted nicely with the white blouse beneath. And the full skirt did make a wonderful swishing sound when she moved. All in all, she supposed the look was barmaidish enough. She checked her hair once more. She rather liked it up. Maybe she would wear it that way more often. But would Drake like the way she looked?
Kennedy glowered at her reflection. She shouldn’t care whether he liked the how she looked or not. Her obsession with appearances had apparently shifted from her old classmates to Drake. It certainly couldn’t be anything else.
The lie tasted soar in her mouth.
A soft tap on the door drew her attention there. She chewed her lower lip. That would be Drake. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Last night’s little impromptu dance had just about undone her. She had paced the floor for hours before coming to bed for fear of what she might do. Kennedy frowned. Somehow, she regretted it. How would she ever know if what she felt for Drake was real or not if she didn’t allow those feelings to play out?
In the ten years since she’d graduated from high school and gone off to make her way in the world, she had faced every fear. How was it that coming home like this, even after all this time, could make her so vulnerable once more?
The knock came again. “Kennedy, are you ready? Chuck and Brenda are waiting for us.”
Chuck and Brenda. She shook her head. Her parents loved Drake. How would she ever break the truth to them? Martin had all but adopted him. Drake seemed to fit right in with her whole family. A kind of sadness settled over her. Everyone was falling in love with Drake except her. She had all these feelings, but were they those kinds of feelings? How was she supposed to know? She’d never been in love before. The thought of Larry flitted through her mind and she immediately dismissed that idea. She hadn’t loved Larry. He’d only been a teenage crush, but it had felt important at the time.
She instinctively knew that what she was feeling now was way bigger than that.
“Kennedy, are you all right in there?”
“I-I’m fine. Come in, I just have to…” Kennedy whirled back to the mirror and pretended to check her makeup as he opened the door. She blinked back the unbidden tears shinning in her eyes. She wasn’t supposed to act like this. Finally, she faced him.
“‘Tis a winsome wench you are, lass,” he said, eying her hungrily.
Kennedy could only stare, speechless, at him. To say that Drake made a magnificent pirate would be a monumental understatement. The billowing, full-sleeved shirt lay open, exposing his brawny chest and the sprinkling of dark hair there. The wide black belt and trousers fit as if they had been tailored for him. Then there was the eye patch, the leather boots, and the sword. Kennedy’s mouth wet dry.
He looked awesome.
Drake waved his arm and bowed dramatically before her. “My lady.”
“You look amazing,” she head herself croak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Wow!” Kennedy gave him a nod of approval. Every woman at the ball tonight would be lusting after Drake. That notion didn’t sit too well with her, and that disturbed her.
Drake disturbed her.
“Tonight, my lady, your every wish will be my pleasure.” He held the door open wide. “The ball awaits.”
Confused, flustered, and suddenly too warm, Kennedy produced a smile and breezed out of the room. Drake followed. Forcing thoughts of the man at her side out of her head, which was no easy task, Kennedy focused on the events to come. Anticipation buzzed inside her, effectively tuning out the mixed emotions.
Tonight was the final item on the week’s agenda. After tonight, Drake would be off the hook. Tomorrow would be for relaxing and preparing for Sunday’s departure. This was it. Their last public performance together. Kennedy swallowed back the odd emotion that tightened her chest. By midnight tonight, it would be over.
And nothing would ever be the same again.
Least of all, her heart.
~*~
The tension between Larry and Cassandra was all too obvious as the evening began. Avoiding both of the feuding Hawthornes, Kennedy mingled and chatted, and moved about the room with complete confidence. Gone was the young girl who’d cowered in the corner and watched everyone else have the fun. She was a different person now. Kennedy suddenly paused and turned all the way around. And this was home.
Home. Where the people she loved still lived, where she’d skinned her knees and had her heart broken, where her friends had grown up right beside her. A smile curved her lips. She didn’t have to feel inadequate anymore, at least not where her peers were concerned. They weren’t foolish kids anymore. Excitement tingled through her.
“Now that was a beautiful smile,” Drake said from right in front of her. How had he gotten so close without her noticing? He was the only person who could do that. Leaning in close, he murmured, “I only wish it had been directed at me.” His warm breath tickled her ear.
Kennedy looked up at him and the world suddenly stood still. She reached out and touched his face, traced the outline of his chiseled jaw. Her breathing hitched and she wanted more than anything in the world to kiss him. He was the most wonderful man she knew. Definitely not like the self-absorbed, shallow types with whom she worked. Drake was a better man than any of them. Why had she only just noticed that? A drumroll sounded, jerking her attention the temporary stage they had designed for the event. That was the signal.
The master of ceremonies asked that the dance floor be cleared. The crowd scattered, leaving the section of the gleaming hardwood designated as the dance floor open. As the band started to play, Kennedy searched the sea of faces for Larry and Cassandra. She held her breath as she watched Larry approach his wife and ask her to dance. Cassandra looked taken aback for several tense seconds, then, with the crowd’s encouragement, she hesitantly took his offered hand. Applause rippled through the crowd as Larry led Cassandra to the middle of the dance floor and struck a pose.
Kennedy chewed her lower lip as she watched the couple glide across the floor. Cassandra couldn’t help but smile. Larry’s answering smile matched that of his lovely wife. A deep feeling of satisfaction settled inside Kennedy then. This was right, and she had helped make it happen. The weight of her decade-old grudge simply disappeared as the dance and the music continued. At the end of the dance Larry and Cassandra kissed amid thunderous applause and spirited cheering.
Larry shared a secret look with Kennedy and her heart swelled with happiness. She watched as he escorted his wife from the dance floor and toward the bar. Well, that was done, Kennedy thought with a sigh. The band struck up a tune that instantly caught her attention. Her favorite song. Who would know that? An instrumental version of Shania Twain’s “From This Moment” filled the air.
“Dance with me.”
Kennedy lifted her gaze to Drake’s, sans the eye patch. “How did you know?”
He grinned. “The walls are thin, my lady. I can hear your music when you choose to play it.”
He held out his hand then and it felt only natural to place her own there. The smile on his handsome face drew her into his arms with a promise of things to come. This was where she belonged, if just for this one night. Whatever was happening between them, Drake felt it too. She could see it in the silvery depths of his eyes as surely as she felt it deep inside. No matter what happened when they left Friendly Corners, this one moment would forever hold a special place in her heart. Kennedy closed her eyes then and pressed her cheek to
his chest. She felt his heart beating strongly there. This was bliss. Whether they had a future together or not, their being together tonight was absolutely right.
All thought ceased then, and Kennedy allowed herself only to feel.
When the final notes of the music drifted from the band’s instruments, Drake ended the dance. He drew back slightly, his gaze never leaving hers. “Thank you,” he murmured.
“For the dance?” Kennedy managed a shaky smile.
His eyes softened to match his tone. “For being here with me tonight.”
Before Kennedy could respond to his unexpected admission, gasps and whispers rushed like a tidal wave through the crowd around them. Even the band remained silent. The crowd suddenly parted, and Kennedy’s mouth gaped when Zorro strode through the provided path. Everyone seemed to move forward in unison behind him. The well-built man was dressed all in black. His flowing cape was flung over one broad shoulder. Kennedy caught a glimpse of a bit of gray hair beneath the dark hat.
“Get ready for a hell of a surprise,” Drake said close to her ear.
Kennedy glanced briefly at him, curious as to what he meant, but not curious enough to drag her attention away from Zorro for long. The masked man suddenly stopped in front of a woman dressed in a Roaring Twenties getup.
Celia.
One gloved hand snaked out and pulled an unsuspecting Celia into his arms. She resisted at first, but soon surrendered. Nobody moved. Absolute silence reigned. Zorro’s kiss was long and deep. When he finally drew back, he stared into the eyes of the woman he held and said something for her ears only. He tossed his hat into the air. A collective gasp filled the silence, and then Zorro ripped the mask from his face, revealing himself to one and all. It was…
“Uncle Martin?” Kennedy cried.
Drake grinned. “I warned you.”
Kennedy stared at Drake in disbelief. “You knew about this?”